HAMILTON TWP. -- Recovery Centers of America hosted an open house Thursday to commemorate their first treatment facility in New Jersey. The center is one of many facilities expanding along the East Coast in coming years.

RCA at Lighthouse provides opiate and alcohol treatment to adults with inpatient and outpatient programs as well as using a "neighborhood model" that focuses on centralized, community based recovery.

"I'm convinced that this is the right place for this facility at this time. We need it and we need it now," said Hamilton Township Mayor Roger Silva. "People need to recognize the opiate and drug problem as a chronic disorder and disease."

Silva said in the month of May the township saw 13 overdoses, but all were saved with Narcan.

The facility boasts 53 beds, but plans on doubling in size in the coming years. The building, previously owned by Lighthouse but acquired by RCA, was completely renovated and officially opened on March 8.

Patients at the facility are initially picked up by a Mercedes when they call for help. Once they go through detox, they ideally stay for 90 days and learn coping skills and mechanisms they can use to stay clean and sober. The 12-step program is also a part of the recovery process.

Outpatient care is also available with Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups at the Mays Landing facility as well as satellite campuses in Ventnor, Manahawkin and Haddon Township.

"We go where the community has major needs," said Brian O'Neill, CEO of RCA. "The propensity of alcoholism, opioid and heroin addiction is rampant in this area. The shore communities and central New Jersey are referred to as 'heroin alley.'"

O'Neill stated that the towns between Cherry Hill and Cape May are in dire need of treatment centers. He said large amounts of drugs come through the area, which in turn increase availability.

RCA is a private company, based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, that accepts all insurance plans except Medicare and Medicaid at the moment, but there are scholarships and financing plans available to those without means.

In recent months, RCA has faced challenges with opening up centers in the state due to zoning complications and negative backlash from towns.

"We legally fight on behalf of our patients," O'Neill said. "We advocate every day for our patients, and if that means we have to go to court to get open, we'll get open, and we have never not gotten open."

By the end of 2017 RCA will have opened two more treatment facilities in the state, one in Gloucester Township and one in Morris County.

"We're losing 72 Americans every hour to overdose deaths," O'Neill said. "And the number is growing exponentially every single day."

Dr. Deni Carise said that the demand for recovery centers is higher than ever before because of three factors: The Parity law, which states alcohol and substance abuse should be treated similarly to medical health problems; health care reform, that says it must be covered; and the explosion of the opiate epidemic.

"This disease has no limitations," said Carise, chief clinical director of RCA. "It has no preferences and it doesn't discriminate against any socioeconomic group or anything like that."

Carise said that the biggest misconception of treatment centers is that people believe that individuals battling with or recovering from addiction are not like everyone else.

"We are not a danger to the community," she said. "In fact, we add jobs, we add income to the neighborhood and we try to partner along our neighbors as well."

"We are not in lieu of incarceration and we are not a jail," Carise added. "We are a place where you neighbor, your uncle, your brother and your kid is going to come and get treatment."